Hong Kong woman loses life savings in crypto scam (report)

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A 55-year-old Hong Kong resident was allegedly the victim of an online cryptocurrency investment scam and lost all of her savings worth almost HK$7 million (nearly HK$900,000). dollars).

These cases of fraud have become quite common in the region lately. A study estimated that Hong Kong investors lost around $50 million in the first half of 2022 due to crypto schemes.

Obtaining goods by deception

According to a cover from the South China Morning Post, the woman fell prey when a malefactor contacted her on Instagram in January this year. Investigation revealed that they then started chatting on another messaging app.

After gaining his trust, the scammer advised him to create an account on an unknown platform to invest in cryptocurrencies with the promise of great returns. Law enforcement officers pointed out that the information shared on the site regarding the prices of digital assets was counterfeit and controlled by the offender.

She was told she would receive daily interest of HK$2,500 in addition to a guaranteed profit of tens of thousands of US dollars, police said.

The criminal tricked the victim into transferring 6.96 million Hong Kong dollars ($886,600) between February and the end of March to 19 designated bank accounts.

When the woman attempted to withdraw some of her funds, she was asked to pay a fee. She even tried to borrow money from her daughter before realizing she had been defrauded.

The Hong Kong pensioner asked for help from the police, who described the case as obtaining property by deception: a crime punishable by ten years in prison. However, authorities have yet to arrest any suspects.

This isn’t the only example of a major crypto scam in Hong Kong this week. A 44-year-old woman called the police a few days ago, saying she parted ways with $3.1 million after investing in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) on a dodgy platform.

Crypto Patterns Rising in Hong Kong

Data from 2022 showed that there were more than 10,000 cyberattacks in Hong Kong between early January last year and late June. 798 of them were crypto-related schemes that drained around $50 million from investors. By comparison, these crimes accounted for $21 million in losses in the first half of 2021.

Police recently announced that the total number of crypto scams in the Special Administrative Region of China had risen to 2,336 by the end of 2022 (67% more than incidents in 2021). Law enforcement officers handled 1,884 of the cases.

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